The Prophet and the Astronomer: A Scientific Journey to the End of Time

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W. W. Norton & Company, 2003 - 370 pages
"Tracing our contemplation of the cosmos from the big bang to the big crunch" (The New Yorker), Marcelo Gleiser explores the shared quest of ancient prophets and today's astronomers to explain the strange phenomena of our skies--from the apocalypse foretold in Revelations to modern science's ongoing identification of multiple cataclysmic threats, including the impact of comets and asteroids on earthly life, the likelihood of future collisions, the meaning of solar eclipses and the death of stars, the implications of black holes for time travel, and the ultimate fate of the universe and time.

Presenting insights to cosmological science and apocalyptic philosophy in an "easily accessible" (Library Journal) style, Gleiser is "a rare astrophysicist as comfortable quoting Scripture as explaining formulas" (Booklist). K. C. Cole praises his ability to "[work] the entwined threads of science and religion into a vision of 'the end' that is strangely comforting and inspiring."
 

Contents

CHAPTER I
3
CHAPTER
4
CHAPTER 2
29
CHAPTER 3
39
MAKING WORLDS
63
Evil Also Rises
70
IMPACT
107
Dinosaur Doom
118
Fighting Doom in Outer Space
131
CHAPTER 5
143
CHAPTER 6
158
CHAPTER 7
223
CHAPTER 8
251
Celestial Wisdom
295
Bibliography
305
Copyright

Searching for Killers
124

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About the author (2003)

Marcelo Gleiser is the Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy and professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College and the author of The Dancing Universe: From Creation Myths to the Big Bang.

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